Episode list

On January 14, 2004, a month after Jeromir "Jerry" Palensky's disappearance, his body was found floating face down in the Jordan River near Salt Lake City, Utah, by the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department. He was an immigrant to the United States from Czechoslovakia. He was 61 years old at the time of his death. He had been working as a ranch hand for Vern Fields and his wife Linda Walker Fields. The homicide case went cold, but heated up again in 2006 when detectives were given some vital information about Linda that allowed her to be arrested. At the jail, Linda spoke for hundreds of hours to her husband Vern, often incriminating herself and Vern in the murder. Vern was arrested in 2007. Both parties were convicted of murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole. Linda's original sentence was overturned and in 2013 she was given a new trial. This time, she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She had already served the bulk of that amount of time, and she was released from prison in 2017. Now divorced from Vern, she remarried, but her new husband killed her and then killed himself. The motive for Jerry's murder was a $300,000 life insurance policy that had Linda listed as the beneficiary.

Jupiter, Florida: In March 2020, when the COVID pandemic was just starting, Gretchen Anthony disappears after texting loved ones that she had been diagnosed with positive results for COVID-19. When a search of her home suggests foul play, homicide investigators rely on recorded jailhouse phone calls to unravel the mystery of what happened. One person they want to talk to is Gretchen's estranged husband, David Anthony.

Rockford, Michigan: On August 5, 2006, the father of 41-year-old Renee Beth Pagel found her dead in her home. She had been viciously stabbed to death. The case went cold for 13 years, while a dark and evil twisted web of secrets and lies concealed the identity of the person who heartlessly murdered this selfless loving mother of three. The truth finally did come out, and the revelation stunned the family, the community and the investigators. The case heated up again in 2019. In the end, Renee's husband Michael Pagel pleaded guilty to the murder. He claimed he was the mastermind of a murder-for-hire homicide and claimed that the actual killer was his own brother, Charles Pagel, who is also known as Beau Pagel. Mike Pagel pleaded guilty to second degree murder on May 20, 2020. He was sentenced to "25 to 50 years in prison." Mike was the only person convicted of Renee's death. Authorities have not found valid implicating evidence against Charles/Beau.

June 19, 2017: When a former crime reporter for the Tampa Tribune, David A. Sommer of Safety Harbor, Florida, is found brutally murdered inside his own home, law enforcement investigators take a look at David's estranged wife Jeannie Sommer and also David's neighbors. Jeannie is cleared of any wrongdoing very quickly. Of all the neighbors, the homicide investigators zero in on Michael Harbaugh, who was out of prison on parole and had the opportunity to commit the crime. Michael makes the mistake of incriminating himself during his jailhouse phone calls. In the end, Michael is charged with Sommer's murder, and takes a plea deal for 15 years in prison. He was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder when he was overheard attempting to arrange a murder-for-hire from behind jail walls, to eliminate a witness who was going to testify against him on the David Sommer case.

March 16, 2020, Chatworth, Georgia: The day after his homicide, fishermen find a 27-year-old man, Kenneth Eugene Bunn, shot to death on a river embankment near the Conasauga River bridge on Carlton Petty Road in Murray County, Georgia. A key suspect in the murder investigation, Nadya Swartz, leaves homicide investigators searching for answers and evidence to piece the timeline of events together. However, jailhouse calls which are incriminating eventually reveal the truth of a twisted love triangle that ended in a brutal murder. In the end, in March 2021, both Nadya Catherine Swartz of Crandall, Georgia (the mastermind) and Justin Payton Hooker of Dalton Georgia (the gunman), both age 21, take plea deals. They are both convicted and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years in confinement for the murder of Kenny Bunn.

Yulee, Florida, May 13, 2018: When a young mother of three children, Joleen Cummings, age 34, vanishes on Mother's Day, which also happens to fall on her birthday this year, police race to find her. The search grips the entire community, but no one is ready for what the search will uncover -- a female suspect who is guilty of twenty years of lies and violence. Joleen's husband, Jason Cummings, with whom she had separated, is cleared of any wrongdoing by the detectives. Likewise, her sometimes-violent boyfriend Jason Gee is also cleared. Joleen was a hair stylist at Tangles Hair Salon. In the end, Joleen's co-worker, Jennifer Marie Sybert, whose "real" name turned out to be Kimberly Lee Kessler, is arrested for the murder. Kim Kessler is caught on surveillance camera disposing of evidence that implicates her, in addition to blood evidence left in the Tangles Salon and scratches on her face. Kimberly Kessler was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

A ranch hand, Czech immigrant Jerry Palensky, disappeared in December 2003 and was found dead in January 2004 in the Jordan River near Salt Lake City, Utah. Homicide investigators across two states worked together to catch the killer. The process of searching for the perpetrator uncovered a trail of fraud, deception and adultery, shocking the small town of Elko, Nevada. In the end, Linda Fields and her husband John Vernon Fields were convicted of the murder. The motive was a $300,000 life-insurance policy on Palensky that Linda Fields had purchased and named herself as beneficiary. In 2007, both John Fields and Linda Fields were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

An unknown killer tortures and murders a 21-year-old couple. The DNA links an unexpected suspect to the crime and investigators must rely on recorded jailhouse phone calls to gather solid evidence.

December 11, 2001, Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio: The brutal shooting homicide of Robert Fingerhut, age 57, the respected owner of two Greyhound bus stations, spurs an investigation that reveals a sordid relationship of lust, lies and murder. Self-incriminating comments made on jailhouse phones give law enforcement detectives a break, and hold the killer's secrets. In the end, Robert's former wife, Donna Roberts, who was age 58 at the time of the murder, is convicted of plotting to killer her husband with her love interest, Nathaniel Jackson, the hired gunman. Roberts and Fingerhut had actually divorced not long after they were married, but they continued living together for business reasons. The motive was an old one, Donna wanted to collect money from Fingerhut's life insurance policy. On June 21, 2003, Donna M. Roberts is convicted and sentenced to death. Nathaniel Jackson also was convicted and sentenced to death. Due to appeals to various courts, they have both managed to avoid their death sentences so far, and both remain on Ohio's death row.

The burning body of trumpet player Scott Sessions lies smoldering along a mountainside road, 40 miles west of Fort Collins in Larimer County, Colorado. An investigation uncovers three potential suspects, plus another dead body, but jailhouse phone calls from an inmate at the Weld County Jail reveal the true killer. In the end, it was discovered that there was a love triangle involved with this homicide. Kevin Eastman was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison, as well as an additional 27 years. He killed his ex-girlfriend, Heather Frank, and the man she was dating, Scott Sessions, within a week of each other in February 2020.

Sixteen-year-old Mujey Dumbuya turns up dead four days after leaving her home to go to school; police across multiple jurisdictions unite to uncover the tragic truth behind her murder, and jailhouse calls provide the clues to the killer.